The Road to ROI with F&I

Dealership compliance is a vital and necessary part of running your business correctly. Dealership compliance is the only way to avoid expensive lawsuits and maintain a good reputation. Customers remain loyal to a dealership with compliance training because following compliance laws helps to build trust. With laws changing continually and the introduction of new employees to the dealership, ensuring compliance is a difficult task. These tips can help you maintain compliance in your dealership at all times.

Every dealership needs to have protocols that are to be followed. Sales team members need to be aware of dealership compliance due to the legal requirements of disclosing all information. Further, it should be a fireable offense in the event that a team member fails to maintain dealership compliance.

In any dealership, compliance issues waste time between the sales office and the finance office. Stipulated documentation is often disputed, glossed over or entirely dismissed by sales managers with a big gross in their sights. There is a marked tendency among sales staff to shirk responsibility for missing documentation once a deal reaches the finance department. Missing documentation prevents deal finalization, sometimes resulting in a delay of weeks before a contract is properly assembled. All such activity results in customer and employee stress, creates friction between departments, and wastes money.

Automotive dealerships face a staggering number of federal and state regulations. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in penalties such as warnings, monetary fines, suspension or revocation of an automotive dealer’s license or even imprisonment. With dozens of regulations pertaining to a wide range of topics from equal opportunity standards to odometer status to credit reporting, it can be a challenge to ensure dealership compliance without the help of trained professionals. Below are just a few of the many standards with which a dealership must comply.

There are few things that should take as high a priority in the operation of dealerships as that of dealership compliance. Failure to ensure strict adherence to the ever-changing details and legalities involved could result in serious consequences. Conversely, dealers that stay on top of this important aspect of operating a successful dealership can gain a competitive advantage.

The world of dealership compliance is often tricky. Sales staff are not always familiar with new laws or they forget the details. Violating laws and regulations can cost a dealership owner thousands of dollars. By law, every dealership must work with a compliance officer. To get the most out of this relationship, there are ways to work more effectively with the officer to use his skills to your advantage.

Do your customers ask about dealership compliance and expect your sales staff to produce training certificates? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking about it. According to a March 2016 survey conducted by the Total Dealer Compliance (TDC) organization, 73% of consumers feel more at ease working with a dealership staff that is fully compliance trained and displays their completion certificates. Yet, only 37% of dealerships actually make sure all of their staff has comprehensive compliance training. This all leads to lost profits.

Dealership compliance has been in the news a lot lately, but there is still much you may not know when it comes to training. We've got four facts that may help in building your trust with Vanguard's dealership team.

There are so many different dealership compliance laws -- and there seem to be new ones every day -- that it may feel overwhelming to try to keep up with all of them. However, as much of a pain it may be to try to keep up with all the dealership compliance laws, it's an absolute necessity in order to avoid ridiculous amounts of fines. With this in mind, we've come up with this list of the three most important dealership compliance laws, and why you should know them...for failure to do so will cost you dearly: